New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1887-06-01

skirmishes between the accommodating
boat parties, the engagements Of the
fleets and such torpedo expeditions
as that which blew up the Federal gum
boat Housatonic left few uneventful
days in the history OF the long and
bloody siege. The hospitals Of the
city overaowed with wounded men,
the care Of whom was largely entrust-
| ed to an organization of volunteer
nurses, of which Miss Pickens was a
member.
To her charge fell, in the Autumn OF
1864, Lieutenant Andre de Rochelle,
OF the lst South Carolina Regiment
OF Artillery, command at which
Beauregard said that it had
not its superior in any army
in the world. It had held
Fort Sumter during the terrific fire
that crumbled the great stone walls
into fragments and a piece of bursting
shell had struck de Rochelle down
with what was seemingly a mortal
wound. He was removed to a hospi-
tai under the direction Of Surgeon
Jefery, of the Confederate service, and
| tor many days in which he lay there
| nearer death than conscious life Miss
Pickens was his devoted attendant.
There had been no previous acquaint-
anceship between the beautiful nurse
and her gallant patient. and she had
merely gone to his bedside in the first
instance as she might have gone to
that OF any other soldier; but he owed
his life to her unfagging care. and
when he had passed the point Of dan
ger gratitude was mingled with a
warmer sentiment. The by-play of
love ran on unchecked in the fierce
theatre Of war, and they became
pledged to marry. They were of equal
social rank, Lieutenant de Rochelle
having a lineage that reached the
Huguenot settlement of the state.
The marriage was appointed for the
Christmas eve OF 1864, in the gloom
that then overshadowedt the beleagued
town. It was sombre holiday sea-
son for the people driven from their
shattered homes by the steady rain OF
shot and shell, nearly exhausted of
the commonest necessarles Of life and
shrouded in mourning for lost members
OF every household.
The Pickens family mansion was
within the line of fire from the FEEDER
al batteries. and months previously
had been abandoned. Miss Pickens
had been received into the resi-
dence of her relative, General Rhett,
which was supposed to be beyond the
range of their guns, and had so far es-
capped being hit by any OF the mon
strous projectiles that flew into the
city. On Christmas eve the wedding
party were assembled in the parlor
OF the Rhett mansion, one of
the large and handsome houses so
common on all the river frontage OF
old Charleston. Divested ofits costly
and elaborate decorations that had
gone to swell this or that Confederate
fund, the great room looked barren,
chilly and forbidding. Candles were
almost an unattainable luxury then
the city gas works had long been
wrecked by exploding shells-and
some homemade device of illumina-
ton only lit up the little space occu-
pied by the lover and bride and clergy
man. Save for the brilliant uniform
of the soldier and the white robes of
the priest OF the Episcopal Church,
there seemed no color of warmth in
in the apartment. Finery appropri-
ate to the wedding ceremonies OF dis
tinguished people was not to be
found in the Confederacy, and while
the dozen of guests were men
and women who had known the
opulent and luxurious life OF good
society in the ante-bellum day
OF Charleston they were now
reduced to homespuns and coarse
cottons. With the harsh discordance
OF the bombardment filing their ears,
and with the knowledge that the
bridegroom must at once quit his
wife's side for service with his COM
mand, 81 sense OF apprehension and sor-
row brooded over the assemblage
The most serene and self-possessed of
all present, the newspaper reports
said, was Miss Pickens, whose stately
beauty was heightened by contrast
| with the surroundings.
The clergyman's voice broke the 81
lence Of the group with the reading Of
the marriage form, and he had just
reached the interrogatories when the
horrible roar OF a shell vastly louder
than those flying over the distant sec
tions OF the city drowned every other
sound. 1t came from an advanced
battery that General Foster had re-
Gently opened we'll up on the
inner side Of Morris Island and within
a fourmile range OF the Rhett resi-
dence. The 200 pounds of iron load
ed with incendiary material described
d trajectory that ended upon the
roof OF the house, from whence it
crashed Through the intermediate
floors and burst in the midst OF the
wedding party
When the sitting smoke had cleared
away and men could breathe free
| from the suffocatine fumes of the pow
der, the apartment-its walls and
ceiling partly blown out, it's furniture
knocked into chips, blood spattered
everywhere, fragments OF human
formes strewing the foors-was a
scene OF indeserlbable terror. Three